The increasing number of surgical procedures, development of technologically advanced products, growing geriatric population, and rising preference for minimally invasive surgeries are the major growth drivers for the global surgical simulation market. Due to the aforementioned factors, the industry is projected to generate $1,643.7 million revenue in 2030, advancing at a CAGR of 16.9% during the forecast period (2021–2030).
In the beginning of 2020, COVID-19 began to spread around the world, and the government of various countries implemented strict measures, such as lockdowns and social distancing. Owing to these measures and limited operations, manufacturers across the world, including those of surgical simulators, were negatively impacted. With the lifting of lockdown, the market is expected to revive, as the demand for surgical simulation will increase.
The surgical simulation market is categorized into products and services, on the basis of offering. Of these, the products category dominated the market during the historical period (2015–2020), and it is expected to retain its dominance during the forecast period. This will mainly be due to the growing demand for surgical simulation products owing to the increasing number of surgical procedures being performed across the globe.
Moreover, the surgical simulation market is categorized into academic & research institutes, hospitals, surgical clinics, military organizations, and others, on the basis of end user. Out of these, academic & research institutes are expected to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period. This is attributed to the high demand for educational training programs to improve the clinical performance of surgical residents.
North America was the largest contributor to the surgical simulation market in 2020. This is mainly attributed to the increasing collaborations and partnerships between market players and healthcare associations, increasing number of surgical procedures, and rising healthcare expenditure.
The Asia-Pacific (APAC) market is expected to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period due to the increasing medical tourism activities and surging geriatric population.
Players in the surgical simulation market have been involved in collaborations and partnerships to remain competitive. For instance, in April 2020, CAE Inc. collaborated with Area9 Lyceum to provide an online Ventilator Reskilling Course to clinicians in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. This module covers the basics of respiratory physiology, mechanical ventilation, and COVID-19 care.
Similarly, in September 2019, Smith & Nephew plc and VirtaMed AG entered into a collaboration to provide surgical simulation training, as part of their training and education portfolio for advanced surgical devices. VirtaMed AG is collaborating with Smith & Nephew experts to identify the key learning objectives associated with each arthroscopic surgical technique and incorporate them into new simulation modules, which would combine anatomically correct models with photorealistic virtual-reality (VR) simulation.
The major players operating in the global surgical simulation market are CAE Inc., Mentice AB, 3D Systems Corporation, Simulab Corporation, Limbs & Things Ltd., Medical-X, Voxel-Man, VitaMed Ag, Inovus Ltd., eoSurgical Ltd., 3-Dmed, Laparo Sp. z.o.o., Gaumard Scientific Company Inc., LAERDAL MEDICAL AS, CATHI GmBH, Simendo Company, and Surgical Science Sweden AB.